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Are forums dead?

Well, maybe that isn't the best way to word this questions as I am sure it varies by topic but generally speaking what is the consensus on forums, are they worth continued development?

As part of several sites our team manages we have seen our forum traffic slowly die out in recent years. Last year we did a redesign and simplified things for better user experience and we have seen a bump in traffic this year but that has not translated into conversions.

As more blogs, social media sites, etc. continue to gain in popularity it seems as though forums are starting to fall back a little. Would love to hear your opinions though.

2 Responses

I think the most important thing you said was that you simplify things for a better user experience.

we are in a form now and I don't believe it is dead

When you think of a form or a blog you can draw a lot of similarities.

For instance a blog is primarily about one topic and allows for people to discuss that topic where they form may allow somebody to create a topic and have others discuss it but most of the discussion is still conducted by people not creating the topics.

I would utilize blogging and the large social media networks that dominate today's SERPS you can get a lot of eyeballs on one post.

If you utilize them correctly and build up a strong authoritative presence where your trusted people will naturally go back to your website to seek answers and services.

That does help Thomas, and I would add that I see the benefit of a forum for community building. In some instances I think forums could be a huge benefit. What I am seeing on the forum that we manage is a smaller and smaller number of users asking questions and starting topics. We still get a good number of eyeballs checking out older posts though... lots of lurkers.

Many questions that used to end up on the forum are now being directed to live chat, facebook, blog comments, etc.

In general most forums I see feel very outdated to me, so I am wondering if anyone has seen any great examples of what they would consider more "modernized versions of forums that are successful?

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